Elementals: Avatar ficlets
by paynesgrey
Summary: This is a series of ongoing ficlets centered around the characters of Avatar, containing genfic, alternate pairings, and various genres and themes.
1. Aspect

**Characters/Pairings:** Zuko-centric, Aang's group, no pairings  
**Rating:** G  
**Word Count:** 298  
**Warnings/Spoilers:** Spoilers for "The Western Air Temple"  
**Notes:** Written for the "Stark" theme at avatar contest at Livejournal.  
**Summary:** Zuko relizes the differences in the Avatar group by the way they address him.

Aspect

Upon joining the Avatar's group, Zuko soon picked up on the personalities of each member. Nothing painted each of them more in the way they addressed _him_, and the tones of their voices quickly defined them.

The earth bender was the least harsh with him. She hadn't the history with him as the others did. She didn't judge through her eyes, but with her earth bending, which lead him to believe her open-mindedness was not an act, but an air of complete confidence.

Zuko surmised that Sokka's tone compensated for his lack of bending skills. He was a capable warrior, and Zuko supposed he utilized his ingenuity at opportune moments. Otherwise, his general tone rose from juvenile mockery – specifically toward Zuko.

The Avatar had surprised him, and Zuko knew it was likely Aang would hesitate to allow him to join. Zuko half-expected him to be more angry and emotional than he was. When he offered him that sliver of a chance, Zuko swelled with hope. Zuko was grateful his faith in his former enemy had been right and not in vain.

The water bender was much different then the rest. Though her brother showed his distrust through taunting, he did not abhor him as much as his sister did. Her eyes swirled with anger as she met him, and her words stung colder than Azula's ever had. His sister, Zuko thought, was not worth the effort for regained trust, but Katara was.

And when they came together at night, Zuko felt all of them each had stark differences, yet they all melded together to form this stronghold that had beaten him in the past. Now that he was a part of them, he wondered about his place in the group, and how his own tone would complete them.


	2. Time Heals Other Things

**Characters/Pairings:** Zuko/Katara, more in a platonic sense  
**Rating:** G  
**Word Count:** 300  
**Notes/Spoilers:** Post-Fire Nation defeat, a year or so in the future. Season Three spoilers. Written for the "Mistake" theme at Avatar Contest on Livejournal.  
**Summary:** He didn't want her gift. He already received something better.

Time Heals Other Things

For all she had done to him, she had nothing to give him but this.

"Please," she insisted, lifting her hand to his eye, as she'd done long ago. The betrayal and hatred she once had in her eyes had dulled over. Time went by and now she respected him as a fellow warrior – as someone who helped liberate them from his very own people.

"Stop," he said sternly, grasping her hand and pulling it down. Automatically, fingers entwined, and a strange yet comfortable semblance burst between them.

He smiled genuinely at her. "You know you don't have to do this. I don't need it."

"But…I could heal your scar. The blood bending has taught me…" He shook his head, stopping her words.

"Your talents are wasted on this scar," he spoke, and their joined hands fell loosely to their sides. They turned their heads as Sokka called them inside for dinner, and Zuko tugged her forward.

"Stop worrying, water bender," Zuko said playfully. "Once you accepted me for the mistakes I made, that was enough. You owe me nothing now."

Katara nodded, a light smile painted her face. A year ago the war ended and things had started out differently, but Zuko could tell Katara still felt guilty for the things that she had said and the skirmishes that had erupted between them. Knowing now that she considered him a trusted ally and friend was more than he could have ever expected.

"Come on, you two! Are you going ogle each other all day?" Sokka barked out, startling them as their hands separated. Katara chuckled nervously, and Zuko rested his hand on her back as he followed her inside.

If Katara meant to give him anything, a healed scar meant nothing compared to the offering of her true friendship.


	3. The Blonde Girl Who Fell From The Sky

**Fandoms:** Avatar: the Last Airbender & Harry Potter  
**Title:** The Blonde Girl Who Fell From The Sky  
**Characters:** Luna Lovegood and Prince Zuko  
**Requested by:** darkpuck from **Fandom Secrets** on Livejournal  
**Notes:** Um, spoilers after "The Western Air Temple" I believe. General Harry Potter knowledge.  
**Rated:** PG-ish  
**Word Count:** 542

**Summary:** A blonde girl falls from the sky right into Zuko's arms.

* * *

The Blonde Girl Who Fell From The Sky

"Oomph!"

"Oh!"

"What the --" Zuko made a noise of discomfort before he blinked and was rendered speechless as a girl of flaxen colored hair fell into his arms. He, of course, never intended to catch her. His arms were just out and ready because he was having another argument with Katara again, and they happened to be open enough to automatically wrap around the surprising weight that had fallen onto him.

He supposed catching her was better than having her land on top of him.

"Who are you?" he asked, still befuddled that she was in his arms at all. He looked down at her strange dress and up to her face. She seemed just as confused as he was, only a little more so.

"Oh, dear. It appears my father has erred on another portkey," she said with a sigh. By the sound of her voice, she didn't seem that upset by it. Zuko gawked at her as she looked around and then hooked her arms around his neck for support. He blushed when she looked up at him. "Pardon me for falling on you, sir, but I am grateful that you have caught me."

"Um..." Zuko suddenly noticed a pointy stick in her grasp, rubbing against his neck. _Ow._ He pouted, glaring at her. "So..." He shifted his weight, feeling the pressure of holding her up. Then, he tried to speak, but he couldn't, and his befuddled reaction turned into outright anxiety. She seemed so laid back, and he was about to freak out.

"Zuko, who is that?" the Avatar called out from behind him. His companions were making their way onto the strange scene, and Zuko still had the odd, albeit cute, blonde girl in his arms and wrapped around his neck.

"I don't know!" Okay, so he was freaking out now. "She just fell from the sky and landed... here!"

"Oh, my! How did you get that scar?" The girl disengaged one arm from his neck and held up the stick she was carrying. "I can fix that!"

"What!?" Zuko cried. Immediately, he dropped her when white light sparkled at the tip of the stick. She fell with a hard 'thud' on her bottom, earning a gasp from everyone. The words died on her lips, and she rubbed her sore butt and looked curiously up at Zuko, who was whiter than a sheet.

"Right. You must be Muggles. I apologize. Um..." She stood up and offered hand with a smile. "Please to meet you! I'm Luna Lovegood, and I'm just as normal as every one of you. Also, this is not a wand, just a plain stick."

"What's she saying now?" Zuko turned to the Avatar and his friends with a desperate look on his face.

"I dunno. Maybe she's crazy," Sokka answered.

Luna turned to Sokka quickly, causing him to yelp. "Oh, no! I'm not crazy. I'm just as sane as all of you." Her blue eyes glittered at them pleadingly as everyone stared at her in silence. She turned to Zuko and shot him a pretty smile. He blanched, his nerves finally getting the better of him. He fell over.

"Yeah, sure you are, lady," Toph said, jabbing the now-unconscious Zuko with her foot.

END


	4. The Last Cry

AN: prompt from avatar contest on Livejournal: 15-sentence fic. Katara/Aang

The Last Cry

He cries for them, for the monks who once took care of him and for the people he's never met and died in the war. He closes his eyes and feels them; he thinks of their suffering, and he mourns them deep within his heart.

But soon, as morning turns to noon, and noon turns to twilight, it all becomes past. He moves on as their spirits have. Redemption and consolation have finally been served through him.

On the horizon a new day climbs in, and peace covers the land like a warm rain shower of hope and renewal. He can feel it from the top of his head to the pads of his toes. The world is healing, and the cries of the people are no longer a rampant buzz in his ears.

His eyes open and above him the stars glitter with contentment. He's come full circle, and the blood and despair of war is behind him, a fading darkness farther behind on the weighted road toward the next course of his journey.

He feels movement behind him, and it's a comforting presence. With her presence, always beside him, from then until now, he knows she'll be there for him as he steps ahead to his next path. Like the healing of the world, it's her that gives him the fire of hope that never burns out. Katara holds out her hand and asks if he's ready.

He is, and in her smile Aang sees the hope of the future – _his_ future.


	5. Companion

AN: Friendship fic, Toph and Iroh.

Companion

She was surrounded by people, old friends and brand new, but she couldn't be lonelier.

"Why the long face, young lady?" asked a familiar voice.

If she had a long face, she couldn't see, but Iroh had changed that in a moment.

"I'm thinking," she huffed slightly. She felt his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "I'm thinking about my parents."

"You don't want to go to them? The war is over," he said, and there was always this bit of silence between them that showed how well he listened beyond words. He was probably watching the muscles on her face to gauge her emotions.

She wondered what it'd be like to do that.

"I think they don't like me much anymore. I ran away, and I've been away for a long time," she said dejectedly, with more emotion in her voice than she wanted him to hear.

"Ah, I think you should try at least. Time goes by, and the space between families only gets longer," he said. They waded in silence again as Toph let his words set in.

Then, he added, "I will travel with you."

"Really?" she asked. Her mood seemed to lighten. She could almost feel his elation at lightening her mood.

"Of course. I am an old warrior without a battle to fight." She could hear the adventure in his voice, hidden behind the veneer of listlessness. "I have nothing better to do."

She giggled. Maybe his light mood would make the journey to see her parents easier for her to endure.


	6. Uninvited

AN: Written for the "Azula" theme at avatar contest on Livejournal.

Rating: PG

Pairing: Sokka/Azula

Uninvited

It only takes him one quick second to see inside the soul of this woman. Not many would catch it so fast, and he's sure men have died trying to understand her. But he sees her. From one warrior to another Sokka believes he knows her.

His hands were once on her intended to kill, but the smirk on her face shows she's not intimidated. Never, and not by someone like him.

Her mouth spills with lies, so black and hollow he can't recognize what's the truth or her sick fantasy.

But nothing is truly sick. Everything is calculated, precise, and a few dark laughs ahead of him. His anger, his threats – all of it is useless. She doesn't even stir a muscle.

She tricks him and breezes past him so close he could feel the warm breath escaping her nose over him. (He's always thought she'd feel colder.)

And in the deep night of their failures, he can't sleep, and he slips in and out of waking nightmares. The haunted looks on his friends' faces only frighten him away, but the residual heat of that woman's breath is still lingering over his skin.

"_You should have finished the job. You should have snapped my neck_," she hoots.

He blinks awake and sees the dying campfire and realizes it's only a dream. Her smirk, her cackles and her lies fade into the ether, and Sokka hates that Suki and the others are still in trouble while he can only be haunted by her distractions.

But she's not here. "This is all part of your plan, isn't it?" he asks himself. He believes he understand her now. It's her ploy of getting under his skin.

And when he meets Azula in his uninvited dreams, Sokka knows that she's succeeded.


	7. Snow Wedding

AN: Written for the "Wedding Theme" at avatar contest on Livejournal.

Pairing: Aang/Katara

Rating: G

Snow Wedding

Katara began to pace around the temple. She avoided the look the priest was giving her, as well as Gran-Gran's exasperated expression.

"Where is he?" Katara stormed at Sokka, who stepped back from her anger and shrugged his shoulders.

"He said he needed to do something and he'd be back," her brother said. He patted her shoulder soothingly. "Don't worry."

Katara's hands fisted at her sides, and she saw Suki running frantically to the front of the aisle. "I found him!" Katara felt relieved momentarily, but then a loud noise made everyone freeze. With wide eyes, people screamed as a large rumble of snow began to thunder toward them.

On the top of said rumble was Katara's husband-to-be.

"Katara, look! I brought some old friends to our wedding!" He grinned enormously, riding on a penguin's back as the rest of the pack slid quickly behind him, bringing the snow bank with them. Several people got up and tried to escape the avalanche, but Katara's burgeoning powers cocooned them and made them stay.

After the snow bank covered them, Katara and the others rose from a protective ice bubble, and it popped open when the snow cleared. Katara crossed her arms in a huff as she stared at her fiancé, face-planted in the snow.

He raised his head and grinned at her sheepishly. The priest dusted off the snow and gave the couple a withered glance. Katara helped Aang up, and he scratched his head awkwardly as he peered into her eyes. "Um…I do?"

Katara sighed as Sokka laughed. The rest of the guests pulled themselves out of the snow. The music started, and Katara couldn't stay mad at him. The Avatar might have been older, but his antics would never change.

Katara wouldn't want him to be any other way.


End file.
